Slo-blogging Friday

As has become practice, not much on these boards Friday. Blogging will resume on Monday.

Fundraiser Success

I don't have the money numbers, but it was a good night for our growing community. Several students performed, and several others auctioned off some of their drawings and paintings. We drew more than a few first time visitors, and were blessed by the appearance of several former students and graduates.
This is one of two big events for TAS over the course of the school year. We will be developing another: an opening celebration for sometime in September. One of my thoughts on this is to make into a commitment ceremony of sorts.

For instance, what if seniors read aloud what is required of them and asserted their commitment to those goals? What if another older student described the two way responsibilities of the teacher-student relationship? There are many ways of approaching this, but the goal would be to underscore the importance of committing to a school year at TAS.

This is something a student group can take up and shape decisively. An excellent way for this year's senior to pass on what they have come to understand.

Big Pharma, same old story.

Why is this so often the pattern?

A powerful drug is developed with some benefits for a difficult to treat population.

It has significant side effects, which are downplayed.

Those side effects have huge impacts on the quality of studies done on the medication (e.g. drop out rates).

The studies are designed to make the drug look more effective than it is.

Studies that indicate no or little benefit (especially when balanced against the side effects) are aggressively suppressed.

The drug is marketed to populations that have not been studied for the drug's safety or efficacy (depressed adolescents, etc).

The lines between marketing and the research are obliterated by a web of professional and personal relationships, by advertising money, travel benefits, and other blandishments.

Finally, of course, thousands of people are grievously injured.

Again, from our friend at the Inquirer:

Does the world have the right to know about negative studies on AstraZeneca's potent antipsychotic drug Seroquel?

Or whether company representatives promoted the drug for unapproved uses?

And what about details of sexual relationships between Wayne Macfadden, AstraZeneca's former U.S. medical director for Seroquel, and two women who researched and wrote papers supporting the drug's safety and efficacy?

A federal judge in Orlando may answer those questions as soon as today in a case stemming from personal-injury claims by 15,000 people that Seroquel triggered weight gain, diabetes, and other health problems.

College?

Pennsylvania is among the most regressive states it terms of student college debt and the cost of a state college education. It seems that these issues, which are not only important to people, will eventually cost the state mightily in terms of the kind of folks who stay in Pennsylvania, raise families, start businesses, do research, and all the things that make for a dynamic, healthy economy. For 14 years, there has been little leadership on this issue. Gov. Ridge blew it and Gov. Rendell is currently blowing it.
We has numerous former students who simply cannot afford college. They don't dare shave their work hours to even take a few classes. There are in real fix and their expectations for themselves are shrinking mightily. This is tragic.
But perhaps there are options to consider, as per this morning's Inquirer article:

A private university in New Hampshire is offering students a "no-frills" option: more than a 50 percent cut in tuition if they take courses at a satellite campus and forgo many amenities.

In New Jersey, Richard Stockton College will allow students to take from 12 to 20 credits for a flat rate.

And elsewhere, some colleges are running three-year degree programs, so students can get through school more quickly and save money, using a model common in Europe.

The idea of less costly or "no-frills" universities - as proposed by Pennsylvania last month - is under discussion and in some cases is playing out in other communities around the country, as the economy worsens and the price tag for higher education continues to rise.

"It's an idea whose time has come," said Richard Vedder, director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, a Washington think tank. "Right now, we're in a recession, and everyone is more cost-conscious than ever. College costs are rising faster than people's incomes, and this can't continue."

There has been quite alot of good reporting in the Philly papers lately.